U.S. film program to tour Taiwan

2015/09/02 13:28:10

Little White Lie. (Courtesy of the CNEX Foundation)

Taipei, Sept. 2 (CNA) A U.S. film program will travel to Taiwan later this month, featuring free screenings of five independent films and follow-up discussions to be held in cities around the island, according to the organizers.

Under the "Sundance Film Forward" program, the screenings will take place in the northern cities of Taipei and New Taipei, and the central city of Taichung from Sept. 19-23, said the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which is co-organizing the events along with the Sundance Institute, the U.S. President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and the CNEX Foundation.

The films to be presented in Taiwan include "Little White Lie," which is a personal documentary about family secrets, denial and the power of telling the truth, and "Meet the Patels," which is a real-life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an almost 30-year-old Indian-American who enters a love triangle between the woman of his dreams and his parents.

[Little White Lie]

[Meet the Patels]

Another film to be screened is "Imperial Dreams," which features the story of an aspiring and gifted 21-year-old writer, freshly returned to his Watts neighborhood after a two-year prison stint, who dreams of better days for himself and his 4-year-old son in this unexpectedly hopeful depiction of inner-city life.

Directors of the three movies will travel with the program to Taiwan and hold discussions with Taiwanese audiences, said the AIT, which represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of bilateral diplomatic ties.

[Imperial Dreams]

Two other films are "We Are the Giant," a story of ordinary citizens facing the same moral questions that have defined revolutionary leaders across the ages, and "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz," which chronicles the story of programming prodigy and information access activist Aaron Swartz.

The "Sundance Film Forward" touring program is designed for 18-24-year-olds, students and artists that offers film screenings and discussions to cultivate new audiences for independent films. It uses the power of cinema to promote cultural understanding and enhance awareness of shared values across generations, religions, ethnicities and borders, the AIT said.